(upbeat music) >> Narrator: Live, from Silicon Valley, it's the theCUBE, covering Mobile World Congress 2017. Brought to you by Intel. >> Hey welcome back. We're here live in Palo Alto at the SiliconANGLE Media Cube studios, our new 4500 square foot office. We merged with our two offices here to have our own studio, and we're covering Mobile World Congress for two days. 8AM to 6 every day, breaking down all the analysis from the news, commentary and really breaking down the meaning and the impact of what's happening, and the trends. We're doing it here in California, bringing folks in and also calling people up in Barcelona, getting their reaction on the ground. We've got our reporters, we have analysts there but all the action's happening here in Palo Alto for our analysis. Our next guest is Christina Ku, director of NTT Docomo Ventures. Welcome to theCube, appreciate it. >> Hi. Well it was good to see you again. >> Great to see you. Obviously we've known each other for over a decade now and you've been in the investment community for a while. The first question is why aren't you there at a Mobile World Congress? Because it's changed so much, it's a telco show and some apps are now thrown in there. But there's so much more going on right now around 5G, AI, software, end to end fabrics. So it's not just "Give me more software, provision more subscribers." It's a whole other ball game. >> That's a great question. So our CEO of NTT Docomo is there, and the C-level team. But we are the innovation team. We have been here since 2005 doing research and then added business development about three years ago and then a ventures team that's been around and now we're part of NTT Docomo Ventures. What we're looking for is more services and software and this year I guess the focus is AI. And AI is, I would call it the new infrastructure. Since wireless networks are all data now, the new infrastructure is AI rules. Rules for everything, vertical and new maps. So I can talk a little bit more what we've been seeing in kind of the software and services area and how we're looking at the Bay Area as kind of the new innovation to bring back to Japan to work with NTT Docomo. >> That's awesome. Let's take a minute, Christina, if you can, just before we get started, take a minute to explain what your role is and the group that you're in at NTT Docomo here in the Bay area. What you guys are doing, the focus, and some of the things that you're involved in. >> Great yeah, thanks. So, I'm a director and I invest on behalf of two funds. One is NTT Docomo Ventures for NTT Docomo, the wireless carrier. Sixty-million subscribers, all in Japan. Our competitor is SoftBank. We're bigger in Japan, and have more market share. And also the NTT Group has a two hundred and fifty million dollar fund. They're off the 101 Freeway. There's NTT Security, i-Cube, a division of companies, as well. And the idea is to bring these technologies through start ups, through BD, to help them enter Japan. And also, to invest, a minority investment. >> That's awesome. So you have to pound the pavement, go out there and see all the action. Obviously, Silicon Valley, a lot of stuff happening here, and you've got a lot of experience here. Your thoughts on the business model, and how the AI as a service, you mentioned that, which is, we totally see the same thing. We see a confluence of old network models transforming into personal networks. We're seeing a trend where the relationship to the network, if you will, from a personal standpoint, could be the device initially, but now it's wearables. It's the watch, it's the tablet. So now people have this connection, digital connection to the network. Might not be just one network, it could be two, so now AI has to come in, and people are speculating that AI could be that nice brokering automation between all the digital services. Whether I'm jumping into an autonomous vehicle >> So if you refer to services for consumers, then the approach that we have is to offer a B to B to C business model, so in each lifestyle category. We purchased a cooking school, or a percentage of a cooking school, ABC Cooking. And then we were looking for kitchen devices, right, to offer that service, an oven, a bluetooth connected pan. I think some of these devices will be showing up at a Mobile World Congress. And then, people want a service wrapped around that. Same thing happened last year with fitness, with Fitbit, but also there's so many other devices to monitor your heartbeat and your health at the consumer level. But consumers want a service provider, someone to put that together for them. And I think AI would be in that layer. >> So when you say service, you don't mean like, network services or connections, you mean lifestyle services. You mentioned cooking. By the way, Twitch has one of the most popular shows in Korea. People watch each other eating food. It's one of the hottest live-streaming shows. But this kind of talks about that. You mentioned healthcare. Is this the kind of new software you see? And these are kind of the new digital services? Is that what you're looking at? >> That's exactly what we're looking at. I think people don't associate a carrier and services. In Asia, more so, maybe Korea, and Japan, because 5G will happen there, first. And Docomo will be the first carrier to have 5G in Japan. I think Korea, they'll have their version first. So I think with that, we have been, I guess since the days of i-mode, offering services, in a way. Because PC, and phone has been analogous, all data services have been just data in Japan. >> What's your take on 5G right now? Because obviously that's the big story at Mobile World Congress. Is it real? Is this one of the big upgrade areas? Do you see that being a catalyst? >> Yeah, I mean, we will have it for the Tokoyo Olympics. So we're working on that. >> And what kind of speeds are they talking about? Gigabit, is that what they're looking at? >> Yeah, I think it's within 30 seconds you can download a full HD movie. >> (laughs) I want that. >> For consumers like me right? >> Come on, I want that now. We had our last guest talking about that. "What am I going to do with a Gig?" I'm like, well, apps will figure it out. That's one of the beautiful things about software. What's the coolest thing that you've seen? In terms of, as you look at some of the things that are around the corner, what are some of the cool highlights that you see connecting the dots with some of these new kinds of services? What's the trends? >> Depends on if you say consumer, enterprise, or kind of core. Like I said, what's in the home is interesting. On the infrastructure side, mapping. I think new types of beyond Waze mapping, 3-D drone mapping. >> The drone thing is super hot. That is killer. >> But it requires a new data set. >> Yeah. >> Right? And if you look at, Waze is great, but if you look at it, it's almost outdated, now, right? In terms of what you can imagine, if there is a tree that comes up because of a storm, or has fallen down, you want that map to configure that. So that the drone can fly over the building, or the tree, or whatever's in the way. So you need real-time mapping, and I think that's an interesting area that we've been looking at a lot. >> And connectivity will fuel a lot of these devices, whether they're drones, or other sensors on the network. As that's, I'd imagine, the good instrumentation out there for that stuff. >> And also social data. The confluence of easy, cheap social data. And then marrying that, and stitching that in there. You know, we've found companies that will identify you through video, like computer vision, and a drone will follow you and recognize you through AI. >> That's cool. >> That's kind of, you know, there may be small increases in innovation, but without the AI and the machine learning, you can't- >> Yeah, it's interesting, you know, this lifestyle, these services. I think that's the right strategy in the right direction. Because we were just having a debate earlier this morning on theCube, here, about autonomous vehicles. Because one of the four categories of the hot trends in Mobile World Congress is autonomous vehicles, entertainment and media, smart cities, and home, automating and all that stuff. And that's all an opportunity for services. But we were debating that transportation's not going away, but I might not buy a car in the future. The differentiation might come from really cool software that allows me to take my preferences, my Spotify playlist, all my digital services that I am leveraging into an environment, whether it's a car, a theater, a park, a stadium. Whatever lifestyle I'm in, I can then move with my digital ecosystem, if you will. My personal- >> Your preferences. >> My digital aura, if you will, and not have to reboot, and connect. I mean right now, my phone works. I just associate, but you know, still, it feels clunky. So I think that's kind of a cool direction. Is that something that you see that telcos and most folks will pick up? Or is that just you guys doing that right now? >> I think what interests me about NTT Docomo when I joined was that they're kind of in the forefront, and in kind of leadership of that. And I think Korea and Japan, in Asia, are looking ahead. What do you do with unlimited data? And then kind of following you everywhere. So I think AI, uh, you know, we had SIRI, Shabette Concierge, which was, I guess, our version of SIRI a long time ago. There's a lot of voice-enabled applications. So, I guess, will that be the interface? I think another interesting concept is what will be the interface? The phone, Amazon Echo, what will be the natural interface for you to connect to these devices and preferences? >> Take us through the day to day in the life of a VC, kind of the deals that you do. What happens in your day to day life here in Silicon Valley? Take us through some of the things that you go through every day. >> Most days, I guess, just meeting with companies and trying to find, you know, the next one. There's so many great areas, and also the next trends. We also do a lot of enterprise deals. So I've been looking at security, cloud, a lot of the devops, or kind of what's around the cloud systems. Finding the right companies. And then, also intersecting with my, I have a business development team, and they connect to Tokyo, so there at night, talking to the business group leaders. And finding that balance of, what is a technology that would work in Japan? What are they interested in? And then, out here, scouting for those companies. >> Yeah, one of the sub-plots of the Mobile World Congress this year, which is consistent with pretty much the trend is that the enterprise, IT, is evolving very quickly because of the cloud. Amazon has certainly demonstrated the winning in the cloud. And security, no perimeter, API economy, these new trends are forcing IT to move from this proven operational methodology to very agile, data-driven, high-compute clouds. And security's one of the huge issues. And now you have multi-clouds, where I might have something in Azure, I might have something in Amazon, I might have something in a geographic basis around the world trying to operate globally, being a multinational, is challenging. What's your take on that? Because this is an area that is not sexy as the consumer play, but in the B-to-B space, it is really front and center. RSA conference just last week, we were talking on email about RSA. Two weeks ago, that was the number one thing. You've got the cybersecurity issues, you've got the cyber surveillance, and also just the threat detection from ransomware to just consumer phishing. What's your thoughts in this area? >> So, I guess we're looking at kind of what's the next new area, which would be using AI to analyze all this data that's coming in, from the perimeter, from the end point, on your network, right? And then what can bubble up to the surface? We've invested in two companies in this area: Centrify and Cyphort. Looking for, kind of, other companies that- >> John: Well, Centrify, they're really focused on the breech. >> They're really focused, yes. >> Tom Kemp, in fact we went to their party at the RSA, Jeff Frick and I. They had a great band. Had a good time with those guys. But they're doing extremely well. They're very focused on mobile. >> They're doing really well, yeah. >> So what is the challenge, in your mind, right now, if you're an entrepreneur out there, for the folks watching? They're looking for kind of like the white space. They're looking for some tea leaves to read. Could you share any color on just advice for the entrepreneurs out there? Because it's certainly a turbulent time in the enterprise, and just in general, the cloud market. >> It's very competitive. >> Advice for entres, where should they focus? What sort of key metrics should they be building their ventures around? >> I think it depends on if you have an idea, or have a product already, but I think it's very competitive, right? And it's hard to break out of. What's your product differentiation? On the enterprise space, I think building a product, solving the problem. And then once you've done that, built a great team, then sales. And I think in the security space, trying to get to a million ARR, right? Just getting to a certain scale- >> So tell us about Centrify. When did you guys invest in those guys? Early, was it later on, which round did you guys- >> We invested, in the last round, so, uh, we were late stage investors, but we're very happy with the investment. They're doing very well. >> Awesome. Any other cool things you're working on that you'd like to share? >> We have taken apart AI, and started to look at transportation, so I think mapping is a little bit a part of that. It's also driving different industries, like e-commerce, IoT. We've looked at IoT. >> You must get a lot of this all the time, and I've got to ask you the same question, because I always get asked, "John, what is AI?" Now, I have two answers. Oh, AI's been around for a long time, but then there's a new AI. How do you answer that question? Because AI as a service essentially is software in the world paradigm, and it certainly is happening where you're going to start to see some significant software advances. But AI in and of itself is evolving. How do you describe AI as a service? How would you describe it to the layperson out there? >> I think, maybe its early stage, it's the team, and the technology. How many PhDs, you know, what are you looking at? What type of machine learns? That's, we have the more technical team. We build services. You know, my boss' boss is the head of services and he reports to the CTO of Docomo. His team and he, they look at that. Then on the other hand, though, I think its later stage, is vertical industries. Have people taken it apart, put it together, and then are monetizing that? So I think it's- >> John: It's a lot of machine learning. A lot of data-driven, So algorithms over data, or data over algorithms? Is there a philosophy there? I mean, that's a debate that people love to talk about. >> Maybe it depends on where you're applying it, who it's for, where do you get the data, how do you train the data? And, you know, what is the result? And are people happy with the result? I think the core infrastructure, I think once an AI company becomes hot, then it gets bought, and at that point, we all know who the players are. And people are probably looking for more and more of those, so I think those are harder to find. So then, like I've said, we've taken that apart, and maybe we've looked at mapping. What are maybe more the components underneath that that we can start to say this is going to be huge in the future? >> Yeah, and I think that's a great philosophy, too. If you look at how IBM has branded Waston, you could almost look at how successful that's been because people can get a mental model around that. And they've taken a similar approach, although I would say they've done very good on the vertical packaging. And a lot of work's going on, now, I think we're seeing down in the guts of the tech. I think there's a machine learning and more going on there, which is really cool. >> Which utilizes the cloud, right, and- >> That's where the power- >> That's where the power is. >> The compute. I mean Amazon has that. At the last re-invent, they announced the machine learning as a service. You're starting to see this now, where people can take a iterative approach to leveraging this AI as a service. I'm really impressed by that. Congratulations on a great strategy. I think that should be a winner. >> Yeah. Thank you. And that's going to be probably a core business model. I think other telcos should take notice of that. But maybe we shouldn't tell them we're alive. We can't put it back. Christina, thanks so much for coming in, appreciate it. Christina Ku, here, inside theCube. Special coverage of Mobile World Congress. Doing all the investments, checking out all the new business models, and really looking at AI as a service, and that really is cutting edge. That really is consistent with the data. It's theCube, we'll be right back with more after this short break. (tech music) (digital music)